The present invention relates generally to media presentation, and more particularly to systems and methods for presenting dynamically selected media content to a user of an electronic device in a social network environment.
Conventionally, users of networking websites connect with other users and provide information about themselves. For example, a user may post contact information, background information, current job position, hobbies, and so forth. Other users may contact the posting user based on common interests, or for any other reason.
Recently, social networking websites have developed systems for tailoring connections between various users. For example, users may be grouped based on geographical location, job type, and so forth. Social networking offers users the opportunity for frequent, automatic notification of changes in the information posted by other users.
There are existing mechanisms that allow a user to display information about other users. Some mechanisms may allow the user to select particular items of media content for immediate viewing. Typically, however, these items of media content are disparate and disorganized. In other words, the user must spend time researching a topic by searching for, identifying, and reading individual items of media content that are not presented in a coherent, consolidated manner. Further, often the user remains unaware of the existence of some items of media content that were not captured in the user's research. For example, in a typical social networking environment, one would have to look up another user and click on various links to find information about the other user.
In addition, there are news feeds to which one can subscribe that can provide information on a particular topic via automatic download to an electronic device associated with a user. However, the downloaded information is not selected and presented based on the user's relationships with other users, and does not occur within the context of a social network. What is desired is a way for a user of a social network automatically to receive items of media content that are dynamically selected and presented to the user based on his relationships with other users.